Congress hits out at BJP on Coal report

TNI Bureau: The government hit out at the main opposition BJP as the Parliament was stalled on the fourth consecutive day today over the CAG’s coal block allocation report.

Addressing a press conference following the ruckus in the parliament, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Law Minister Salman Khursheed slammed the BJP for paralysing the proceedings of the Houses over the CAG report on Coalgate.

Chidambaram appealed to the opposition to allow the function of the Parliament so that the government will discuss the issue. He said that the CAG report is a matter of debate.

Defending the government, he said that all the facts have been presented on the floors of the parliament, but the BJP is not willing to discuss the issue.

He said that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ready to make his statement over the report. He made it clear that the UPA did not change the coal allocation policy.

He slammed the BJP for creating uproar in the Houses saying it is a sad reflection of parliamentary democracy. “If coal is not mined, where is the loss”, asks Chidambaram. He said that there is no loss, the coal is still there.

Backing Chidambaram, Jaiswal defended the government saying the coal policy is since 1993, before the UPA government. “Why did not BJP advocate the auction”, he asks.

He also appealed to the BJP to allow the Parliament to function as people must know what is happening in the Houses.